


What Little I Can Get

by WldCatSprStr_14



Series: Five Rings [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:08:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WldCatSprStr_14/pseuds/WldCatSprStr_14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'll happily take second place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Little I Can Get

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd. Written for Day 18 of [](http://adventchallenge.livejournal.com/profile)[**adventchallenge**](http://adventchallenge.livejournal.com/)

From the very first time he’d welcomed Merlin into his bed, he’d known that, in the end, it wouldn’t be him that Merlin was going to choose. Not when the only reason that Merlin had shown up at his door that night, vibrating with unshed tears and desperate for attention, was an explosive argument with Arthur. After the fourth time he’d opened his door to find Merlin standing there, Gwaine had stopped bothering to ask what had happened. He’d just opened his arms and his heart and taken what little of Merlin he could get, savoring every moment for what it was.

Gwaine had always known that he would come out the loser and that there was no point for vying for Merlin’s affections. Arthur wasn’t even _trying_ and he still won. That told Gwaine all he had to know; second-best was all that he could ever hope to get.

But that doesn’t mean that he would have stopped himself from falling in love with that ridiculously beautiful man, regardless that he’d seen it a mile off and would usually have packed up his bag and moved as far away as possible just to avoid it.

Because Gwaine knows that being second-best for Merlin is worth it.

For Gwaine, the worth is there when the person he cares for most has had his heart broken by the person _he_ cares for most and he comes to find _Gwaine_ in the middle of the night. The worth is there when Merlin clings to him like he’s the last solid thing in the world. The worth is there when Merlin’s kisses are so frantic that they bruise Gwaine’s lips and the pain allows him to ignore the details for a while and kiss back.

Gwaine knows it’s worth it when he wakes up in the morning with the smell of Merlin still on him, even if the bed beside him has long since gone cold. He feels it in every shift of his tunic that rubs raw against the scratches on his back and in the bruises on his neck that he flaunts without a care.

For Gwaine, the worth is there when the King comes to him, swallowing his pride because he loves that amazing man just as much as Gwaine does, and asks him to serve the Crown in the one way that Gwaine would never refuse.

Yes, it’s more than worth it because Merlin is right there, naked and wanting right in front of him, touching _him_ again, and Gwaine can close his eyes and pretend that the King is not watching.

~FIN~


End file.
